FIX These 3 MISTAKES And IMPROVE Your Backhand

Hey everyone! We just released a new video lesson. Today we show you three common mistakes a lot of players make on their backhand. This video is for players with a PlayYourCourt rating of 79 and below.

– Hey, guys, Scott from PlayYourCourt.com here, and today I’m gonna cover three mistakes you’re probably making on your backhand. So today we’re talking about backhands, and this video is for a pretty broad range of players. Really anyone with the player court rating of 79 or below is likely making at least one of these three mistakes on their backhand. Also, if you’re not familiar with our rating system, a player court 79 is the equivalent of an advanced-intermediate, or a strong USTA 4.0. So if you’re at this level or below, this video is for you. So let’s go ahead and dive right in. Okay, guys, so three mistakes that if you’re not happy with your backhand, you’re probably making. Let’s dive right in. Mistake number one, starting too high. I see a ton of recreational players pull that racket back too high. And this is a major problem, ’cause what it causes, it causes you to slap at the ball, and in a lot of cases, hit down on the ball. And this usually leads to missing more balls in the net than you should. So there’s a couple of symptoms, if you’re not sure, hey, am I starting too high? Think about your top hand. So for me, I’m right-handed. On my backhand, my left hand is on top. As I pull back, if my left arm flares out kind of like a chicken wing, you’ll see that kind of encourages this high pullback. So if you’ve got this problem, if you find yourself pulling back too high, what I want you to do is think about taking that elbow, and dropping it down towards your rib cage. You’ll see that as I drop my elbow, my racket also drops down towards my body. You may have heard us in other videos also advise you to think about pulling that racket back like you’re gonna dip it in a pool, alright? So again, mistake number one, you’re starting too high. Relax that elbow. Dip that head guard in the pool on your pullback. Mistake number two, relax your hands. Probably the most common mistake I see in recreational players is we’re gripping the racket too tight, and it’s preventing us from getting that fluid follow-through. We’re stopping our swing short because our hands are tight, not letting us follow through. So when you relax your hands, you’ll notice it’s a lot easier to follow through, generate racket head speed, as well as more spin and power as a result. The third and final mistake that I see is a little bit less obvious to see on camera, so I wanna point it out. It’s that you’re swinging with your bottom hand. So on a two-handed backhand, I want you to think of your two-handed backhand is a one-handed forehand with your non-dominant hand, with your bottom hand on there for stability. So to clarify, I’m right-handed. For a right-handed player’s backhand, the left hand is gonna be on top, and that’s the hand that should be doing all the swinging. So again, we just talked about relaxing our hands. My right hand is barely touching the racket. In fact, it’s just light enough there to provide the stability that I need for it not to feel wobbly at contact, alright? What’ll happen is if you swing with your bottom hand, it’ll cause you to pull across the ball, start missing balls wide, and prevent you from generating the depth that you’re looking for. So to recap, three mistakes you may be making on your backhand. You might be starting too high. Make sure you’re not chicken-winging out, drop that elbow down. You might be death gripping that racket. Make sure to relax your hands. And you might be pulling across your body with that bottom hand on your backhand. Make sure your top hand or your non-dominant hand is doing all of the swinging on that backhand. So I hope you enjoyed this video. I really want you to improve your tennis game. The problem is, I don’t really know anything about you or your skill level. So what I want you to do, click the button below, answer a couple of quick questions for me about your game. I’m then gonna send you custom tailored content with things that you specifically need to be working on to improve your game. Just click the button below, answer a couple of questions, and I’ll do the rest.